The present invention relates to a film supporting apparatus for cameras for supporting film flat and, more particularly, relates to a film supporting apparatus to be built in cameras of a bottom-loaded type in which a film supply chamber is opened at the bottom thereof for film loading.
There have been proposed several kinds of bottom-loaded cameras which are provided with a film supply chamber having an entrance opening opened at the bottom of the camera and a straight guide slot connecting the film supply chamber and a film take-up chamber. In such cameras, a film container including a filmstrip is inserted endwise into the film supply chamber through the entrance opening. At the same time, the film leader, which is previously drawn out of the container and is normally curled, is inserted longitudinal edge first into the straight guide slot of a film passageway so as to be placed in position for film loading. Before any film is loaded in the camera, a film pressure plate mounted on the inside of a back cover is removed from the film passageway by partially opening the back cover for exposing the entrance opening and the guide slot in order to provide sufficient space for threading the film leader in the film passageway and is moved into the film passageway for holding the film flat in the film plane.
One of the problems associated with bottom-loaded cameras utilizing such film loading mechanism as mentioned above is that the forward end of the film leader to be threaded into the film passageway is often caught inside the exposure aperture frame of the camera due to the curled film leader unless sufficient film leader is previously drawn out of the film container. This difficulty can result in a failure to place the film leader in position and, if the film leader is forced into the film passageway, in a bending of the marginal portion of the film which may prevent it from then being wound up. This is an important problem in auto-loading camera adapted to automatically wind up a film after insertion of a film container into the film supply chamber and a previously drawnout film leader into the film passageway. The reason is that, in bottom-loaded cameras of the type having an auto-loading mechanism, a back cover is usually restricted in its movement by the limited space in which it can be partially opened during film loading in order to permit limited access to the camera interior for the purpose of protection of the camera interior. The back cover, however, is adapted to be fully opened so as to permit access to the camera interior for removing or releasing the film leader caught inside the exposure aperture frame upon removing the pressure plate from the passageway.